Scotland team to take a stand in the wake of alleged abuse suffered by Glen Kamara of Rangers; Livingston midfielder Marvin Bartley and former Scotland midfielder Leanne Ross have joined as Scottish FA Equality Advisors
Monday 22 March 2021 15:35, UK
The Scotland national team will not take a knee in Thursday's World Cup qualification clash with Austria, but instead stand in solidarity with the fight against racism.
The Scottish game is uniting behind Glen Kamara, who reported being racially abused during Rangers' Europa League game against Slavia Prague last Thursday.
Celtic and Rangers chose to stand together against racism rather than take a knee prior to Sunday's Old Firm game.
And the Scottish FA's Equality and Diversity Advisory Board [EDAB] has announced a series of new board appointments, which it says are "designed to unite the game behind a common agenda to eradicate racism and all forms of discrimination, whilst promoting equality for all within the game".
Livingston midfielder Marvin Bartley and former Scotland midfielder Leanne Ross have joined as Scottish FA Equality Advisors and EDAB "are expected to initiate an online summit they hope will involve the biggest names and advocates for equality in Scottish football to champion meaningful change".
Scottish FA Chief Executive Ian Maxwell said: "The incident involving Glen Kamara at Ibrox last week demonstrates that society and football still has a lot of work to do to eradicate racism.
"Scottish football's response shows the commitment to change and EDAB exists to be an agency for change, bringing consensus from across the game on all matters of equality and diversity.
"After witnessing the scenes last Thursday, we contacted Rangers immediately through our equality team to offer our support and guidance through a range of services and we aim to continue that dialogue with any club directly affected by these issues.
"Scottish football has helped raise awareness of the issue of racism by taking the knee throughout the season but there is an acknowledgement that more needs to be done than a gesture of support, especially in the increasing scourge of racist abuse to players via social media.
"Through our EDAB discussions we will explore ways of implementing meaningful change, with players at the centre of those discussions."
Sky Sports is committed to making skysports.com and our channels on social media platforms a place for comment and debate that is free of abuse, hate and profanity.
For more information, please visit: www.skysports.com/hatewontstopus
If you see a reply to Sky Sports posts and/or content with an expression of hate on the basis of race, colour, gender, nationality, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexuality, age or class, please copy the URL to the hateful post or screengrab it and email us here.
Online Reporting Form | Kick It Out
Kick It Out is football's equality and inclusion organisation - working throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge discrimination, encourage inclusive practices and campaign for positive change.
